Gastronomic Gifts III: Marzipan-Topped Shortbread Cookies

December 16, 2008

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[There’s just nothing like a homemade gift for the holidays. This year, with the purse strings a little tighter than usual, I’m determined to make at least a few in my kitchen–and thought I’d share my ideas in case you’d like to partake, too. ]

Isn’t synchronicity the darndest thing? You know, that phenomenon when things just seem to occur around the same time. . . because. . . well, just because. Like when you learn a new word, and suddenly “schadenfreude“ seems to pop up in all the newspapers you read. Or “pecuniary” makes its appearance in every magazine article you see about the faltering economy. Save money with a “stay-cation”? It was mentioned at least once on every financial-advice show that aired in the past week. (And how about antediluvian, lachrymose, arachibutyrophobia? Okay, maybe not so much.)

I love synchronicity; I figure it’s the closest I’ll ever get to having intuition. Years ago, during a carefree Christmas shopping spree (entirely unlike this year, what with all the pecuniary limitations to my budget), I was meandering along a downtown Toronto street engrossed in a lachrymose daydream, probably about being bullied in gradeschool. For some unknown reason, I remembered a former classmate, and wondered what had become of her. In the midst of my reverie, there came from behind me a sudden, staccato warbling, like the sound an antique radio makes when being tuned: “Ricki?! Eeeeoooooouuuuwwww! RICKI HELLER, is that you–??”

Yep, you guessed it: that very classmate, whom I hadn’t seen in over 30 years. We hugged, we excitedly exchanged updates on our lives, we traded phone numbers and swore to keep in touch–then never heard from each other again. But that sure was some synchronicity in action!

If you’ve ever thought about someone you haven’t seen in a while, only to receive a phone call from them that day; if you’ve ever had a dream about finding a $20 bill and later picked up a stray piece of paper in a parking lot that happened to be a $20 bill; if you’ve ever loved a novel by a particular author and then happened to be seated next to that author on your next flight across the country; if you’ve ever been reminded of an old love while surfing the internet only to discover the profile of said love on your Classmates page–well, if you’ve ever experienced a seemingly unrelated coexistence of two meaningfully related things in any context at all, then you, too, have experienced synchronicity. And last weekend, there it was again!

In my previous Gastronomic Gift post last week, I mentioned a pioneer of the now-booming Toronto culinary scene, Bonnie Stern. That long-ago (seems positively antediluvian, in fact) cooking class was my only encounter with Ms. Stern in person; and her recipe for Brandied Apricot-Ginger Spread was, it turns out, the only recipe of hers I’ve ever reproduced at home.

Until now.

Why, just this past weekend, there she was again, peering out at me from the crinkled pages of our weekend National Post! Not only that; in the photo, she proffered some startlingly attractive shortbread cookies: rich, buttery freeform mounds topped with shards of Toblerone chocolate bars. I decided on the spot that I had to re-create those bars, but what to use instead of the Toblerone? I wanted something similar–a mix of chocolate and a sweet filling–but nothing quite as sticky (and nothing producing any arachibutyrophobia, of course). Aha! Marzipan-filled Ritter Sport!

In response to Amanda’s comment in the last post, I used my own Life in Balance Buttery Spread in place of the butter in these cookies. The result was a slightly-sandy-on-the-outside, slightly-chewy-on-the-inside, not-too-sweet and very decadent-tasting cookie. And while they don’t melt in your mouth like tradtional shortbread, the combination of rich dough and chunks of chocolate-covered marzipan is truly enchanting. The HH said he thought they weren’t “really” like shortbread as they didn’t taste “buttery” enough, but that didn’t stop him from scarfing down three of these babies in quick succession.

And while this recipe is a bit more decadent than my usual baked good, hey, it’s the holidays! Gotta live a little. Which, of course, will lead to the inevitable overindulging and weight gain. . . so as you bake up your own batch of these, you can think of me, smile, and enjoy a satisfying little taste of schadenfreude.

“Mum, you know your readers would never do that! Besides, I think I’ve had enough schadenfreude to last a lifetime, what with Chaser smirking at my cone over the past three weeks.”

I am with CCV on arachibutyrophobia – cool new word – but I feel I need to learn how to pronounce it before I can even use it!

Lovely pictures and love the sound of those bikkies – sounds like the reappearance of bonnie stern in your life was a fortunate case of synchronicity – I just tend to get bad luck with synchronicity so I can do without it!

Oh these sound amazing! Holiday cookies are just so fun to eat! I so often have that sort of thing happen…in fact, the night before I broke my foot I went into this long story about a dance injury that was very similar… maybe I should think about finding a 50 on the street or something!

Have you ever read “There Are No Accidents”? A great treat for those who want to explore synchronicity further. Even though it was Hamlet who said “There are more things in heaven and earth…” it could have been Jung. ; )

Love the shortbread. I’ve been thinking about baking up a batch of it myself all week. Seriously.

[…] my diet as well. So I’m afraid you won’t be seeing much fudge, or pecan pie, or marzipan-topped shortbread, or any other dessert that, for some strange reason, seems to spike my blog stats exponentially […]